1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns an electric kettle with a metal heater plate.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Providing tanks of liquid to be heated with heating means including an electrical element associated with a metal heater plate which is mounted at the bottom of the tank and the top face of which comes into direct contact with the liquid to be heated is known in itself.
In conventional kettles, this heater plate is molded or crimped directly into the walls of the tank, near its bottom.
A plate fixed in this way is not removable, however, which makes working on the heater plate difficult in the event of repairs. Molding the plate into the tank is also a complicated procedure.
French patent application 93 09 467 in the name of the Applicant describes a kettle having a heater plate resting on a shoulder inside the tank, with a seal between them, a central screw extending between the bottom of the tank and the center of the heater plate in order to hold the edge of the latter in contact with the seal.
However, this arrangement has the drawback of taking up space under the heater plate, where the electrical element and the control and safety means for the heater plate have to be accommodated.
What is more, pressing the plate onto the seal by means of an axial screw necessitates a disk-shape plate and therefore a kettle with a cylindrical tank.
An aim of the present invention is to overcome the aforementioned disadvantages by proposing an improved system for fitting the heater plate into the body of a kettle tank.